In the dream world, Arou fell to his knees.
His breathing was heavy, and his body could barely move.
The ruined city still stretched out around him.
Chaos stood not far away, calmly watching him.
Inside his consciousness, a voice could be heard.
Zata: Arou… are you okay?
Arou smiled weakly.
"Don't worry… I'm not finished yet."
Zata: Do you need me to step in?
Arou took a deep breath.
"Yes… please. Help me, my soul."
Silence followed for a moment.
Then, the space in front of Arou trembled.
A figure emerged from the darkness—
Zata, in a half-human, half-bat form.
Black wings spread wide, his eyes glowing faintly.
He smiled widely when he saw Chaos.
"I'm starting to get excited," Zata said softly.
Arou struggled to stand.
"Zata… let's join together."
Zata turned toward him.
"I'll fulfill your request, protagonist."
Arou and Zata held each other's hands.
"FUSION."
A blinding light exploded from the point where they met.
The air trembled, and the space around them distorted.
When the light faded, Arou's appearance had changed.
His appearance resembled Zata's—he was no longer an ordinary human.
Arou opened his eyes.
"We will fight you, Chaos."
Chaos raised his hand and quickly wrote in the air.
Arou's body was torn apart.
But—
Nothing happened.
Chaos fell silent.
"What… how is that possible?"
Arou smiled faintly.
"Don't you know Zata's true power?"
He stepped forward.
"He is unaffected by magic, fate, or physical attacks.
He can return attacks."
His tone was cold.
"And he is not bound by time or fate."
Arou disappeared for an instant—
then appeared directly in front of Chaos.
"Full attack."
Arou's fist shot forward.
Chaos tried to erase it.
But this time, his writing did not react.
"What—?!"
The punch remained.
A tremendous impact occurred.
The ground cracked, the sky split apart.
A wave of power spread out, destroying the earth—
even tearing apart the entire universe within that dream world.
Chaos quickly leaped backward, avoiding the next punch.
Arou stood upright in the middle of the destruction.
He no longer looked human.
Zata smiled within him.
"Now," Arou murmured softly,
"it's your turn."
The dream world trembled.
The remnants of the shattered universe still floated in the void.
Arou stood calmly.
Zata's aura was completely merged with him—there was no hesitation, no excessive emotion.
Chaos stared at him sharply.
"I will not lose!!" Chaos said coldly.
"You will never defeat me."
Inside Arou, Zata's voice rang clearly.
Zata: If you are the writer of this dream's fate…
…then I will take over your task.
Arou stepped forward.
Without warning, his body shot forward.
His attacks were fast, precise, and filled with killing intent.
Chaos raised his hand and wrote in the air.
Arou's attack was erased.
But—
The writing stopped halfway.
Chaos fell silent.
"What…?"
Arou's attack continued forward.
A wave of power struck the space around Chaos, forcing him backward.
Zata spoke softly from within Arou's consciousness.
Zata: I do not exist within your story.
You cannot erase something that was never written.
Chaos turned around, beginning to realize that something was wrong.
Arou attacked again.
Chaos tried to erase it, rewrite it, and even reverse what had happened—
but every attempt failed.
At this moment—
Arou had fused with Zata.
And with that, Arou had stepped outside Chaos's story.
"I am no longer part of your writing," Arou said calmly.
"And now… I am the one who moves."
Every step Arou took damaged the structure of the dream world.
Not because of raw power—
but because his existence was never supposed to be there.
Chaos took one step backward.
For the first time, his expression changed.
Not anger.
Not arrogance.
But—
unease.
Arou slowly raised his hand.
"Now," he said,
"you will write your own ending."
The space around them pulsed unstably.
The writings that usually filled the void now appeared… then disappeared on their own.
Chaos raised his hand once again.
"Written—"
The words stopped.
The letters he had written cracked, shattering like glass, then disappeared before they could become reality.
Chaos stared at his palm.
"…What are you doing?"
Arou did not answer.
He simply stood there, silent—his very existence was enough to make the dream world collapse.
Chaos tried to rewrite it.
Arou is bound by fate.
The writing appeared…
then erased itself, as if rejected by the space.
Zata chuckled softly inside Arou.
Zata: This world no longer recognizes you as its writer.
Chaos growled.
"Impossible. This world was born from my loneliness—from your emptiness!"
Arou stepped forward once.
And the world trembled.
"That's right," Arou said softly.
"You were born from me. But that doesn't mean you have the right to control me."
Chaos wrote frantically, hurriedly.
Arou is destroyed.
Arou disappears.
Arou dies.
None of them happened.
Instead—
Each word turned back, tearing apart the structure of the dream world.
The sky collapsed, and the ground split even deeper.
Chaos began to gasp for breath.
Not because of injury—
but because he was losing control.
"I win…" he muttered.
"I was supposed to—"
Zata: You are only a writer as long as the story allows you to be.
Arou stared at Chaos, his eyes cold yet sincere.
"You are no longer the controller of my fate," Arou said.
"You are only a creature refusing to accept its ending."
Chaos stepped backward several times.
For the first time, his glitching body was no longer stable.
His shadow cracked, his robe distorted, and his eyes flickered erratically.
He tried to write one final thing.
Chaos controls the story.
The writing never finished.
The ink evaporated.
His words decayed before they could even form.
Chaos fell silent.
The dream world was now quiet.
And in the middle of that destruction—
Arou stood as the only complete existence.
Chaos slowly raised his head.
"…If I'm not the writer," he said faintly,
"then who am I now?"
Arou answered without hesitation.
"The answer to an unfinished loneliness."
The silence broke.
Not through sound.
But through the disappearance of meaning.
The remaining writings of Chaos hung in the air—
their letters trembling, losing their shape, then collapsing into dust of light.
Zata stepped forward from within Arou.
For the first time, his existence became conceptually separate.
He did not write.
He decided.
Zata:
"From now on, this power… no longer belongs to you."
The dream world responded.
The split sky closed on its own, not because it was restored—
but because it was no longer relevant.
Chaos looked around.
"No… I can still write fate… I—"
He raised his hand.
There was no ink.
No letters.
Only emptiness remained in his palm.
Zata raised one finger.
And everything changed.
Not written.
Decided.
Chaos was no longer the center of the story.
The sentence did not appear as text—
it became law.
Chaos's body immediately cracked.
Not a physical wound.
But a crack in existence.
The glitches across his body widened, like reality failing to decide what form should remain.
Chaos staggered.
"I… exist… right?" his voice trembled.
"As long as I exist, I can still—"
Zata looked at him without emotion.
Zata:
"You exist… because you were created."
Arou stepped beside Zata.
"And everything that is created," Arou continued,
"has an ending."
Chaos screamed.
He tried to force his existence—
creating versions of himself, copies, shadows, possibilities.
But every possibility failed to become real.
The narrative rejected him.
Zata slowly moved his hand.
Chaos no longer had a role.
Instantly—
Chaos's shadows collapsed one by one.
His voice distorted, his body fragmented into pieces of concepts that no longer recognized one another.
Chaos fell to his knees.
"I just… wanted to not be alone…"
For a moment, the dream world stopped collapsing.
Arou fell silent.
But Zata did not waver.
Zata:
"Loneliness is not a reason to destroy everything."
The cracks in Chaos's body widened.
Not because of hatred.
But because the story had continued without him.
The sky faded.
The ground disappeared.
Chaos now stood in an empty space—
without a setting, without a role, without a future.
He looked at Arou one last time.
"…If I disappear… will your loneliness disappear too?"
Arou answered softly.
"No."
"But I will live with it."
Zata sealed fate with one final decision.
Chaos was not erased.
Chaos was resolved.
The light dimmed.
And for the first time, Arou's dream world…
was free from Chaos.
Silence surrounded the fading dream world.
The remaining light slowly collapsed like fragments of dust, leaving Arou and Zata standing face to face.
Arou lowered his head slightly.
"Thank you, Zata," Arou replied softly.
Zata looked at him with a faint smile that was difficult to interpret.
"No problem," Zata said.
Arou raised his gaze.
"So, when you wake up… are you ready to lose them?" Zata said calmly.
"Because you have defeated Chaos."
Arou remained silent for quite a while.
His chest felt heavy, but his face remained calm.
"Actually, I don't want to lose them," Arou answered honestly.
"But… it can't be helped."
Zata stared at Arou longer than before, as if judging something that was not even written in the story.
"You are strong," Zata finally said.
"That's why I will give you a reward for your victory."
Arou was slightly surprised, then smiled faintly.
"Alright," Arou replied.
"Whatever your gift is, I'll gladly accept it."
Suddenly, light surrounded Arou's vision.
The dream world completely collapsed.
Arou opened his eyes.
He had returned to the real world.
The ceiling of his room looked familiar, his breathing heavy but steady.
He slowly sat up and looked around.
Empty.
There was no Lumina.
No Airi.
No Shi, Akari, Priscilla, Nora…
and Hikari was gone too.
The bed was neatly arranged.
The room was silent.
Arou gently gripped the bedsheet.
"So… this is what it feels like," he murmured.
And for the first time since it all began,
Arou was truly alone.